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This article makes note of the decline in US CD sales in the past four years and highlights figures released by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The decline is attributed to Internet downloading because it has dramatically changed the way music is obtained and sold. In addition to acknowledging legal downloading the article spends time discussing illegal downloading of music through peer-to-peer file sharing systems. Also there is a discussion of the "big box stores" such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart that serve as the most successful music retailers presently.
This article asserts the belief that the new downloading craze will result in the closing of the big CD retail chains. Convenience and cheapness they claim wins. However the entire outlook is not negative, the article suggests that these retailers can survive the sweeping technological changes but only if they make some drastic changes and restructuring.